BILL NUMBER: AB 2443 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 6, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 3, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to add Article 1.3 (commencing with Section 675) to Chapter
5 of Division 3 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, and to amend
Sections 9853 and 9860 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vessels.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2443, as amended, Williams. Vessels: registration fee: Quagga
and Zebra Mussel Infestation Prevention Program.
Existing law establishes various programs administered by, among
other agencies, the Department of Fish and Game and the State Lands
Commission, to prevent aquatic invasive species introduction and
manage the spread and impacts of aquatic invasive species in state
waters. Existing law prohibits, except as authorized by the
Department of Fish and Game, a person from possessing, importing,
shipping, or transporting in the state, or from placing, planting, or
causing to be placed or planted in any water within the state,
dreissenid mussels, which are regulated by the department as an
invasive species.
Existing law requires the owner of a vessel, as described, to
register the vessel with the Department of Boating and Waterways
(department), in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing
law establishes a registration fee for vessels and applies certain
fee increases to that registration fee.
This bill would impose an additional fee in specified amounts, as
determined by the department, on a vessel required to pay that
registration fee. The bill would require the department, in
determining the fee, to consult with a technical advisory group,
which would be established by the department. The bill would require
funds from the fee to be used to, among other things, implement and
administer dreissenid mussel monitoring, inspection, and infestation
prevention programs, as prescribed. The bill would require the
department to adopt an emergency regulation to prescribe procedures
for the collection and use of the fee.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Quagga and zebra mussels, nonnative dreissenid mussels
introduced in the United States from Europe in 1988, pose an
immediate and significant threat to California's water supply, flood
control, power generation, and aquatic recreation infrastructure.
Once established in a body of freshwater, quagga and zebra mussels
latch onto pipes, valves, screens, irrigation canals, and gates,
often in quantities that severely impede the movement of water and
the necessary operation of other critical water management
infrastructure.
(b) Quagga and zebra mussel infestation poses tremendous financial
burdens on local governments and local economies. Between 2000 and
2010, widespread zebra mussel infestation of the Great Lakes region
resulted in over $5 billion in economic impacts. Were it to become
infested, California's Lake Tahoe alone would likely incur economic
impacts of over $20 million annually.
(c) Quagga and zebra mussel infestations have been identified in
25 bodies of freshwater in California, most within the southern
California region. These infestations threaten additional water
management and recreational facilities throughout southern California
as well as facilities across the state. Facilities threatened with
infestation include, but are not limited to, agricultural water
management infrastructure in the central valley, drinking water
facilities in the central coast and north coast regions, power
generation infrastructure in the Sierra Nevada, and flood control
facilities throughout California's watersheds.
(d) Existing law prohibits the possession, importation, shipment,
transportation, planting, or placement of quagga and zebra mussels in
any water within the state.
(e) An urgency exists due to the tremendous water management
impacts and state and local government costs associated with quagga
and zebra mussel infestation.
(f) The fees required by Article 1.3 (commencing with Section 675)
of Chapter 5 of Division 3 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, as
determined by the Department of Boating and Waterways, are solely for
the reasonable regulatory costs incident to performing
investigations and inspections necessary to prevent and control the
infestation of California waters by quagga and zebra mussels.
(g) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature that fees
required by Article 1.3 (commencing with Section 675) of Chapter 5 of
Division 3 of the Harbors and Navigation Code as determined by the
Department of Boating and Waterways, shall not exceed the cumulative
reasonable regulatory costs incident to performing investigations and
inspections necessary to prevent quagga and zebra mussel
infestation.
SEC. 2. Article 1.3 (commencing with Section 675) is added to
Chapter 5 of Division 3 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, to read:
Article 1.3. Quagga and Zebra Mussel Infestation Prevention
Fee
675. (a) In addition to the fees imposed pursuant to paragraphs
(1) and (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 9853 or Section 9860 of the
Vehicle Code, there shall also be imposed an additional quagga and
zebra mussel infestation prevention fee in an amount to be determined
by the department as follows:
(1) The additional prevention fee imposed with the registration
fee collected pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section
9853 of the Vehicle Code shall be not more than ten dollars ($10).
(2) The additional prevention fee imposed with the registration
fee collected pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section
9853 of the Vehicle Code shall be not more than twenty dollars
($20).
(3) The additional prevention fee imposed with the registration
fee collected pursuant to Section 9860 of the Vehicle Code shall be
not more than twenty dollars ($20).
(b) In determining the amount of the fee imposed pursuant to this
subdivision, the department shall establish, and consult with, a
technical advisory group consisting of interested persons, including,
but not limited to, recreational boating and reservoir operation
representatives. The members of the advisory group shall be appointed
by the director.
(c) The department shall adopt an emergency regulation to
prescribe procedures for the collection and use of the quagga and
zebra mussel infestation prevention fee for the purposes of this
article. The emergency regulations shall include rules for
administering the grants awarded pursuant to Section 676.
(d) All revenues collected from the fee shall be deposited into
the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund, and shall be expended
solely for the purposes set forth in Section 676.
(e) The fee established by this section shall not apply to vessels
that are used exclusively in marine waters.
676. (a) All moneys deposited in the Harbors and Watercraft
Revolving Fund pursuant to Section 675 shall be available, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, for the following purposes:
(1) For the reasonable costs, not to exceed 3 percent of total
revenues, incurred by the Department of Motor Vehicles associated
with the collection and administration of the fee pursuant to Section
675.
(2)
(1) For reasonable costs, not to exceed 3
percent of total revenues, incurred by the department associated with
determining the prevention fee and adoption of regulations pursuant
to Section 675, and with administering the grants pursuant to
subdivision (b).
(3)
(2) (A) For reasonable costs, not to exceed
15 percent of the remaining revenues deposited into the fund, of the
Department Fish and Games Game for
implementation of subparagraph (A) or (C) of paragraph (2) of, or
paragraph (1) of, subdivision (a) of Section 2301 or Section 2302 of
the Fish and Game Code in those areas of the state where a dreissenid
mussel infestation prevention plan has not been implemented.
(B) The amount specified in subparagraph (A) is in addition to
moneys available pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 85.2.
(4) An amount not less than 85 percent of the remaining revenues
deposited into the fund shall be made available for grants to
entities subject to subdivision (a) of Section 2302 of the Fish and
Game Code for the reasonable regulatory costs incident to the
implementation of a dreissenid mussel infestation prevention plan
implemented either before or after January 1, 2013, that is
consistent with the requirements of Section 2302 of the Fish and Game
Code.
(b) For the purposes of awarding grants pursuant to paragraph (4)
of subdivision (a), the department shall do all of the following:
(1) Give priority to dreissenid mussel infestation prevention
plans that are consistent with Section 2302 of the Fish and Game Code
and that also include visual and manual inspection standards and
other infestation prevention procedures consistent with either the
Department of Fish and Game's Invasive Mussel Guidebook for
Recreational Water Managers and Users, dated September 2010, or the
Natural Resource Agency's Aquatic Invasive Species Management Plan,
dated January 2008, or subsequently adopted guidebooks and management
plans.
(2) Take into consideration the benefits of regional-scale
dreissenid mussel infestation prevention plans.
(3) Take into consideration the unique economic, ecological, and
recreational impacts to rural and urban reservoirs from dreissenid
mussel infestation.
(c) For purposes of this article, reasonable regulatory costs
include costs associated with the investigation and inspection of a
conveyance for the presence of dreissenid mussels prior to contact
with a reservoir, as defined in Section 6004.5 of the Water Code.
None of the revenues collected pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section
675 shall be used for any purpose other than those explicitly
authorized by this section.
(d) For the purposes of this section, conveyances include boats
and other watercraft, and associated vehicles, containers, and
trailers that may carry or contain adult or larval dreissenid
mussels.
(e) As a condition of receiving grant funding pursuant to this
section, an entity shall report to the department data, as deemed
appropriate by the department, regarding dreissenid mussel prevention
and inspection programs implemented with the funding.
677. This article does not preempt a special district, city,
county, or joint powers authority from adopting local regulations or
ordinances related to the prevention and eradication of invasive
aquatic species.
SEC. 3. Section 9853 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
9853. (a) The owner of each vessel requiring numbering by this
state shall file an initial application for a number with the
department or with an agent authorized by the department on forms
approved by the department. The forms shall be prepared in
cooperation with the Department of Boating and Waterways. The
application shall contain the true name and address of the owner and
of the legal owner, if any, and the hull identification number of the
vessel as may be required by the department. The application shall
be signed by the owner of the vessel and shall be accompanied by a
fee of nine dollars ($9), in addition to the fees required under
subdivision (b), except that an owner of a vessel registered outside
this state who is submitting an application for registration in this
state shall pay a fee of thirty-seven dollars ($37), in addition to
the fees required under subdivision (b).
(b) (1) Whenever the fee for original registration of a vessel
becomes due between January 1 and December 31 of any even-numbered
year, the application shall be accompanied by a fee of ten dollars
($10), in addition to any other fees that are then due and payable.
(2) Whenever the fee for original registration of a vessel becomes
due, or is filed with the department, between January 1 and December
31 of any odd-numbered year, the application shall be accompanied by
a fee of twenty dollars ($20) in addition to any other fees that are
then due and payable.
(c) (1) The department shall additionally collect a quagga and
zebra mussel infestation prevention fee in an amount established by
the Department of Boating and Waterways pursuant to Section 675 of
the Harbors and Navigation Code.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 9863, after deducting the amount
of its administrative costs incurred in connection with the
collection of the fee specified in this subdivision, the department
shall deposit fees collected pursuant to this subdivision
shall be deposited into the Harbors and Watercraft
Revolving Fund as required by Section 675 of the Harbors and
Navigation Code for expenditure as provided in Section 676 of that
code.
(d) The department shall provide documentation of its
administrative costs pursuant to this section to the Department of
Boating and Waterways.
SEC. 4. Section 9860 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
9860. (a) Certificates of number shall be renewed before midnight
of the expiration date by presentation of the certificate of number
last issued for the vessel or by presentation of a potential
registration card issued by the department.
(b) The fee for renewal shall be twenty dollars ($20) for each
two-year period, and shall accompany the request for renewal.
(c) If the certificate of number and potential registration card
are unavailable, the fee specified in Section 9867 shall not be paid.
(d) (1) The department shall additionally collect a quagga and
zebra mussel infestation prevention fee in an amount established by
the Department of Boating and Waterways pursuant to Section 675 of
the Harbors and Navigation Code.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 9863, after deducting
its administrative costs incurred in connection with the collection
of the fee specified in this subdivision, the department shall
deposit fees collected pursuant to this subdivision
shall be deposited into the Harbors and Watercraft
Revolving Fund as required by Section 675 of the Harbors and
Navigation Code for expenditure as provided in Section 676 of that
code.
(e) The department shall provide documentation of its
administrative costs pursuant to this section to the Department of
Boating and Waterways.